Long Man Lecture speaker announced

Renowned cultural historian, Alexandra Harris

Who has been here before us, looking up at the Sussex hills? What did they see?

In the lecture, the perspectives of poets will mix with the visions of brewers, merchants and masons: neighbours through time.

Professor Harris will consider people who have inhabited the same patch of earth in different periods and in different ways, their view of the place shaped by diverse kinds of knowledge, emotional attachment and cultural influence. We’ll follow Stuart farmers inventing the future, Victorian geologists seeing far into the past, and refugees from occupied Poland learning algebra in a Sussex wood. Magnified by the close attention of these different people, our nearby places tell far-reaching stories.

Local historians have long been showing the power of regional perspectives to unsettle or reshape national narratives. Here, Alexandra will argue for the great potential of local work to enrich our understanding of the arts. She’ll suggest that by attending to the near-at-hand, we’ll discover new histories of painting and poetry, of looking and reading, remembering and valuing.

John Baldock, General Manager of The Sussex Archaeological Society, said ‘I am delighted that Professor Alexandra Harris is joining us to deliver the Long Man Lecture 2025. The evening promises an enthralling insight into how layers of Sussex history have intertwined, and this annual event significantly advances the Society’s aim to promote and share the heritage of Sussex'.

The talk, which raises funds for the Society, is followed by a Q&A session where attendees will get the opportunity to ask Alexandra questions about her work, along with a signing of her latest book, The Rising Down.

The Long Man Lecture 2025: Neighbours through Time – Local Lives, Infinite Visions takes place on Tuesday 8 April, 7.30pm, at the Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts in Brighton. Full event and booking details at www.sussexpast.co.uk/event/the-long-man-lecture-2025/